Growing A More Green And Sustainable Business

The 21st century has been somewhat troubled so far, and along with global pandemics, has been faced with pressing environmental issues. There is a growing pandemic with plastic, pollution, and a warming planet. Many businesses are choosing to ‘go green’ which is something that will have a positive impact on the environment, as well as on their business reputation.

If you are looking for more to do for your business, or are in the early days of growing a business, then starting off with being green in mind is a good way to go. Consumers are letting us all know what they want more and more, so if you’re taking positive steps to be sustainable as a business, you won’t be able to keep up. Here are some of the things that you can do.

Improve the company culture.

In order to pass down the message of going green to the rest of the business, it needs to start from the top. If you want people who work for you to be less wasteful, find better ways to commute, and to recycle and reuse more, then it needs to start from the top and have that message come down to them through example. With a company culture that is more green, it can be easy to make those choices. An employee wanting to recycle their water bottle won’t be able to do so if there are no recycling bins or facilities in the workplace. Even better, they wouldn’t need to bring in a plastic bottle if reusable bottles or reusable coffee cups were provided for them at work. 

You could also think about having a recycling policy in place for things like paper, glass and even ink cartridges. If you need to get new ones, you should also consider where they are coming from; why not buy recycled ones instead?

Changing this kind of culture in the workplace can take some time if something is already established. However, if you’re just starting out, remember to start out with having a green company culture in mind, and it will make a big difference. 

Green goals.

Setting goals are things that you will be doing in business anyway. But when you set some goals around green aspects and things that will help the environment, it is positive for employees and customers alike. You could set a goal to reduce carbon emissions by your company by only using electric vehicles by a certain date. You could look to reduce how much waste you have as a business, throughout your production and manufacturing processes, or how much you recycle. You could also factor in the costs that are associated with these goals, as often that can be a more motivating factor for employees. 

Getting your team involved in the goal setting is something that is important too. When they feel like they have made suggestions and have had a say, they will feel more accountable and take ownership. If they are simply told what is happening, then it doesn’t have quite the same impact. So get them involved and it can make a big difference with how you can improve eco-friendly practices at work.

Switch and swap.

There are a number of different switches and swaps that you can do to make where you work somewhere that is much more eco-friendly. One of the swaps that you can do is to swap your current light bulbs for LED ones. These are much less toxic, use less energy, but don’t compromise on the light quality. They also last much longer than traditional light bulbs too. You should also invest in some eco-friendly cleaning products. When you use the wonder of nature to clean, rather than chemicals, you are doing a good thing for the environment and water systems, but also for your employees. Cleaning with toxic products can mean some pretty toxic air to breathe in.

Another aspect to think about is creating some eco-friendly things in the workplace that the team can get involved in. We have talked about recycling and so on, but how about creating something like a wild garden and planting bee-friendly flowers, for example? You could also look to create your own herb garden or veggie patch at work, as that can make a difference too, and create a much more ‘green’ feeling at work. If you are short on space, or don’t have a garden space to use, then think about growing with hydroponics instead. If you look for a leading hydroponics wholesaler to get the things that you need, you could be growing herbs, veggies, and fruit for the team, but without having to use earth to do so. Growing things in the office can help to purify the air too, and makes for a fun and unique workspace as well. So there are a number of swaps and switches to make them more eco-friendly. You just need to think about what is going to work best for your office. 

Choose green companies to partner with.

The saying goes that no man is an island. And no business can do business alone. The chances are that you work with shipping companies, retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, factories, and vendors. It can help your business to partner with vendors and other companies who also have sustainability in mind, and work with a green focus. This can help your customers to see that you are serious about sustainability, making you more trustworthy as it shows that you walk the walk, and don’t just talk the talk. When you partner with other green businesses, it also doubles up on the impact that you are having. If all businesses did this, then we’d be in a much better state, and there would be no demand for less sustainable alternatives.

Hopefully, this has given you some ideas about how you can grow and sustain a more green business. Just a few simple things can make the difference, but it does start from the top with the leadership team. 

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